Dress shield



A. MARTIN..

v oness sumo. APPLICATION FILED APR. 28. 1920.

% Mil/Humm r I 2e I T l FIC'E.

-A'NITA MARTIN, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

DRESS SHIELD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16,1922.

Application filed Apri1 28, 1920. Serial No. 377,191.

o all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANITA MARTIN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New York, in the county of New Yorkand State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dress Shields, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a dress shield for womens wearing apparel and particularly to that class of apparel which like evening gowns, low cut waists, camisoles and the like have an all-around straight top line below the arm pit; and its object is to provide a simple and inexpensive protector which will be adapted to prevent the spoiling of cloth by perspiration turning the colors of the cloth as well as by otherwise acting meohanically or chemically on the material of the fibers. It is a further object of the invention to provide a protector in the form of a particular waterproof shield of semicircular, semielliptical or similar shape having both a straight and rounded boundary line which lies flat to the inside of the gown and therefore will always be in close contact with the body without bulging and rubbing the skin.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of the construction and arrangement of the parts thereof as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

The accompanying drawing illustrates, by way of example, my invention in connection with the body waist of an evening gown, and in which Fig. 1 shows an open waist as it appears when laid flat on the table, the inside of the waist being on top, Fig. '2, shows a front view of a dress-shield, Fig. 8, shows the dress-shield slit open so as to show its various parts and Fig. 4B, shows part of a womans body dressed with an evening gown provided with my new dress-shield.

In the drawing the numeral 1 denotes the body waist proper, 2 a line of hooks, 3 a line of eyes corresponding in position with the hooks and acting with same as the closing device of the waist. 4 and 5 are shoulder straps to hold, the waist upon the body of the wearer, 6 and 7 are parts of the usual lining of the waist. 8 and 9 are one flap dressshields of semicircular shape; theyare secured for instance by stitches 11, Or other suitable means at the inside of the body waist below the shoulder straps 4 and 5, re-

spectively, so that the flap is disposed at its corners and some intermediate points of the straight line with the top line 10 of the body waist 1, the shields thus being located below the respective arm pits of the wearer.

The shields can be made of silk, fine muslin or other suitable material, a layer of water-proof material 12 being for instance interleaved between the silk cover 13 and 14. The shield is bound all around and is sewed for instance by stitches 11 all around to the waist, but care must be taken that its upper straight line coincides with; the top line 10, and that the material does not form a fold, but will always lie absolutely fiat to the cloth of the body waist, with the result that annoyances and disfiguring effects are avoided. If a dress-shield is folded and then sewed into an evening gown the body waist is not in close contact with the body of the wearer, for the fold always causes the waist to move off the body and soon also rubs the skin, thereby causing great annoyance to the wearer at a time when she most certainly does not care to be subject to such disturbance; the folded dress-shield will'furthermore show through the material by pressing its rims against the cloth of the body waist, soas to indicate its presence by a heavy curved line outside.

I am aware that dress-shields have been employed in the tailoring arts, but these dressshields couldnever be used in ladies wearing apparel having a low cut and terminating an all-around straight top line without being folded and any garment provided with such folded dress-shields is devoid of the advantages in its wearing and does not afford the comfort which is enjoyed by the wearer of my improved garments provided with the protecting dress-shield formed of a single flap only and having a straight top' line as described above.

What I claim is As anew article of manufacture, ,a dress shield for womens wearing apparel having 1 a low cut and terminating in a straight top line, said dress shield being a single flap shield consistlng of a layer of water-proof material covered with silk, the flap having a straight top line to be disposed with same along the straight top line of the garment on the inside of same.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of N. Y. this 5th day of April A. D. 1920.

I ANITA MARTIN. 

